The New European Vertical Block Exemption: Unanswered Questions for Online Distributors and Platforms

On June 1, 2022, the European Commission’s new Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (“VBER”) and its accompanying guidelines (the “Guidelines”) came into force.  The VBER provides a safe harbor for vertical agreements where the parties’ market shares are below 30 percent and certain conditions are met.  Since the previous rules were drafted, the importance and prevalence of e-commerce has increased significantly.  The new rules are designed to pr